by Mark Harritt
Rieci’s smile changed into something grimmer, “I know a way in. We’ll be able to take one of the smaller canyons in, and follow it up onto the ridgeline. We’ll be on the ridge, above the soldiers in the canyons. We’ll be able to see everything they’re doing. If there’s any of our people left, we’ll try to save them.”
Geonti stayed silent for a while. Then he looked Rieci in the eyes, “If we do that, we probably aren’t coming back out of the canyons.”
Rieci shifted his eyes and stared out into the darkness, “I know. But I keep thinking about what they did to Retha.”
Geonti’s teeth ground together, and the muscle on his jaw stood out in sharp relief, “Our people will not be subjected to that again.”
Rieci nodded, “No, they won’t.” He shifted his eyes back to Geonti, “That’s why we rescue anyone that’s still left in the canyons.”
Geonti didn’t say anything. He knew that if there was anyone left alive in the canyon, he and Rieci would be ‘rescuing’ them from the slave pits and the vivisectionist’s knife by killing them. That truth lay unspoken between them. Geonti didn’t ask the question, because he already knew the answer.
Rieci pointed at the top of the hill, “So, we need to start there.”
Geonti nodded, “There are ten of them total, two teams of five.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder, back at the corpses on the trail, “We’ve already taken care of two of them, so that leaves eight left at the top of the hill. They’ve been working in pairs, one from each team acting as security. We take out the two sentries, and the rest should be in their sleeping bags.”
One of Rieci’s eyebrows arched, “You’ve been busy.”
Geonti placed one hand on Rieci’s shoulder, “I figured that you would end up here. When I saw you yesterday, you looked haunted. I knew you had some things you had to take care of.”
Rieci’s face turned grim, “Yes, I had many things I had to take care of yesterday. The demons that drove me were quieted with the blood of my enemies.”
Geonti’s hand slipped off Rieci’s shoulder, “And now, you think that we should quiet the demons again?”
If anybody in the world knew the pain that Rieci felt right now, it was Geonti. Rieci looked him in the face and shook his head, “I think we should wake them instead.”
Geonti put his hands on his knees and he stood up, “Then let us bath our enemy in their own blood. We honor our dead by killing more of them.”
Rieci put his hands on his knees and stood up, “They took everything that I loved, and now there is a hole in my heart. I need vengeance to fill that hole.” He motioned for Geonti to lead, and they both disappeared into the darkness.
----------------------------------------------------
The sight of dead bodies had no effect on Taectis. She’d seen the same on countless worlds. Men, women, children, their faces innocent in death no matter how guilty they had been in life. The sickly-sweet smell of decaying bodies was another matter completely. No matter how many times she’d been around decayed or burning corpses, the smell was always overpowering.
She stared at the corpses, bodies in line, neatly stacked. Someone had cared about these people, possibly family or friends. They’d been placed with care, clothes carefully arranged, blood wiped from their faces. But it wasn’t the corpses that drew her attention.
If you looked closely, you could see the imprint of two shuttles, one small, about the size of the one that her anti-aircraft team had shot down. On the other side of the line of dead bodies, there was a much larger imprint. That shuttle, and the people that had placed the corpses in line were missing. That concerned Taectis. If she couldn’t prove that the Sh’raithe had fulfilled their contract, then she wouldn’t get the promised bonuses. She could have her men doctor the scene, but that could lead to further complications. If she didn't complete the contract, the Dostori Rev could destroy Taectis’ reputation. This complication made Taectis very unhappy.
“Are you sure this is all you found?”
“I am positive, Shaedur. We found these bodies, the equipment I showed you in the caves, and those robots over there.”
Kraduer was one of the best tactical commanders that Taectis had. She looked over at the three giant robots standing at the entrance of the small canyon. They were inert, unmoving, but for some reason, they made Taectis very nervous.
She turned to look at them. There was a team of robotic techs crawling over them, trying to open one up to look inside, “Are you sure they’ve been abandoned?”
Kraduer motioned around him, “There is nothing living in the canyons, I can assure you. We’ve found remains of bodies that the shelling destroyed. My men have inspected every small crevasse, every cave, every carved room. My engineers have been busy to ensure that there are no other surprises waiting for us. We’ve been here for four days. I would think that if they were going to attack, we would have known by now.”
“Can the techs get inside?”
Kraduer shrugged, “Possibly. They’ve been trying to do so since the infantry initially gave the all clear. Only time will tell.”
Taectis stared at the mechs, “Well, either way, whether we open them here or not, we take them with us. Those mechs cut through the Cree automatons like a hot knife through butter. If we can duplicate that technology, we can charge whatever we want for the next job. We would be the equivalent of two, two and half brigades. No other infantry brigades would be able to stand against us. They would have to bring in mechanized brigades to combat us.
Kraduer nodded, “And, the nice thing is, we could use our standard infantry tactics. We wouldn’t have to change a thing.”
Taectis’ beak clattered, indicating her elation, “Yes, that would be truly wonderful. And, when we went up against the mechanized units, they wouldn’t understand how to deal with us, giving us an immense edge.”
Kraduer crossed his arms, “Palladium would flow into our accounts like water.”
“Truly, it would indeed,” Taectis agreed.
Kraduer looked over at Taectis, “What do you want to do about the others?”
Taectis’ face grew grim once more, “We have scouts on the other side of the mountain. Release the biologicals, and see if they can find anything.”
Kraduer bowed, “As you will, Shaedur.”
She returned his look, “And, if you can’t find them, we need to start beating the brush again. I’ll talk to the Shomcuer to ensure that we place men at the compound where we found the one. They may have gone back there.”
Kraduer smiled, “Not if they want to live, they haven’t. They should know that’s the first place we’d look.”
“Ah, but they may not have found out that we know about the base. The being we found explained that he’d had transgressed their laws, and that they were not coming back for him.”
“Then they will be very upset when we show up.” Kraduer changed the subject, “Where is Fancheion? I would think he’d want to come here to see the lair of the enemy.”
Taectis nodded, “Yes, he wanted to, but I had another mission for him.”
Kraduer frowned, “What would take him away from here?”
Taectis’ beak clattered, this time in anger, “It seems some of the thregari here may have escaped. We’ve had losses the past four days. Even that precaution hasn’t stopped the slaughter. Every morning I wake up to reports of soldiers with their throats slit.”
Taectis was so angry that she pounded her fist against her thigh, “Even in the middle of the camp we find the dead. I’ve sent Fancheion out with patrols to find and kill these strays before they do anymore major damage.”
Kraduer’s eyebrow went up, “Major damage?”
Taectis’ eyes narrowed, “Yes, major damage. The team that shot down the aircraft was slaughtered. Ten soldiers were cut down with no more problem than if they were children, their throats slit in the night. And, what’s worse, whoever is doing this stole the anti-aircraft missiles, took the warheads and used them
to target the mortar ammo dump. The secondary explosions took out two thirds of my available mortar rounds.”
Kraduer looked straight ahead, realizing that this line of questioning probably wasn’t a good one for him to continue. At least not with the reactions that he was getting from Taectis. Kraduer was familiar with the phrase, “spitting mad,” which was something that his species, because of the bills, couldn’t really do. But he could see phlegm building at the sides of her mouth.
Taectis was breathing rapidly, thinking about the missing enemy, and the ones that were operating within her lines. Those thoughts quickly disappeared, though, along with the mechs that her techs were crawling over. One second, they were there, then suddenly, the mechs disappeared.
“What the hell?” She exclaimed.
Then, the techs on the backs of the mechs fell onto the ground. Taectis didn’t truly understand what was happening until one of her techs screamed, and blood blossomed across the ground as one of the mechs stepped on him.
“Take cover!” Taectis screamed over the sound of incandescent rounds from the mech’s railgun.
----------------------------------------------------
Rieci and Geonti watched the green men in the valley. After a while, they noticed the person in charge, talking to another. Strange how posture and persona always gave away who was in charge. Their presence seemed to create a ripple around them. People deferred to them, and the people in charge soaked up the deference, rarely acknowledging the people around them, treating them like lesser beings.
They’d come across the valley last night, a few nights later than they’d planned. They’d tried to use the anti-aircraft missile launcher against the ammo dump, but the anti-aircraft rockets needed a heat source to lock onto. The mortars weren’t shooting anymore, and the ammunition was as cool as the ground it sat on. There were a few small fires where the green men cooked their food, but those were well away from the ammunition dump.
So, they’d removed the warheads and took them in. Rieci had wondered how the hell they were going to set off the warheads until Geonti pulled out a block of the Turinzoni C4 and some blasting caps. One of Rieci’s eyebrows shot up when he saw what Geonti was carrying.
Geonti shrugged, “I like to be prepared.”
After the explosions, they waited, hiding out for at least an hour. Their waiting was rewarded when men out on the valley came rushing in to help put out the fires and secure what was left of the mortar shells. The green men were preoccupied with the ammo dump, so there was no problem crossing the valley floor. Once they got close to the canyons, Rieci led the way into a very narrow one that they followed for about a mile. It petered out, and then they used the narrowing confines of the walls to climb up to the ridges that delineated the canyons. On the ridge, they used the perpetual fog in the area to mask their presence as they did their reconnaissance.
Rieci had the green man leader lined up in his sights, ready to pull the trigger, when suddenly, the mechs disappeared. At first perplexed, and then with growing pleasure, they realized that some of the Emurecuns had stayed and prepared an ambush for the green men. They watched the slaughter proceed below them. Then Geonti gripped his arm and pointed where several of the green men were running toward large tubes. Rieci didn’t know what those tubes did, but he didn’t want to find out.
They switched their aim from the leader and started picking off the green men trying to get to the tubes. One of the mechs noticed the tubes and aimed a stream of incandescent iron at them. The first tube the mech hit exploded in a flash of plasma that took the other tubes with it. Half of the canyon was engulfed in the super-heated plasma, cooking the green men that were running toward the tubes. The other half were slaughtered as the mechs concentrated on wiping out any other resistance that was still fighting. Soon, there weren’t any green men left alive in that charnel house. Hundreds of the green men had been killed in less than five minutes. Their blood painted the gravel in the box canyon a vivid red color. The smell of cooked flesh rose from the ground.
“That was . . . amazing,” Geonti muttered.
Rieci nodded, “One thing I have to give the Emurecuns credit for is that they really know how to kill.”
“We spent four nights killing green soldiers, and we didn’t even get close to that body count,” Geonti said, in awe.
“I’m just amazed they stayed quiet for that long.”
Geonti shrugged, “Probably waiting for someone important to show up.”
With everyone in the canyon dead, it was much harder for them to figure out where the mechs were. Geonti pointed at the ground close to the entrance of the canyon. Rieci looked at where Geonti was pointing and saw dirt and gravel kick up as the mechs moved.
“Looks like they’re going to find more green men to kill,” Rieci surmised.
“Let’s go help.”
They got to their feet and ran across the top of the ridge, trying to keep pace with the mechs. The ridge they were on would take them to the open junction where the five canyons met. Below they heard the occasional rip of the railgun as the mechs dealt with threats.
Fog was a problem as they made their way above the canyons; but they didn’t have to deal with the green soldiers on the ridges and they were able to get ahead of the mechs, arriving at the junction first. Behind them, the sound of the railguns increased with intensity. When they got to the junction, they figured out why. The green men were certainly not cowards. They streamed from the two canyons on the left and right, the center canyon ahead filled with boulders and dirt.
Rieci and Geonti watched as infantrymen poured into the canyon below. Most of them had small arms, rifles mainly. A few had the larger tubes that they’d seen explode back in the box canyon. They didn’t know what the weapons were, but something that size had to put out a lot of firepower. So, they decided to aim for any of the green soldiers that carried the tube weapons. Geonti squeezed off the first round and hit one of the gunners. The gunner went down and his oversized tube hit the ground. Both Geonti and Rieci targeted the large tube weapon. Rieci was sure they hit it, but it didn’t produce the results that the mechs had back in the box canyon. So, once again, they concentrated on shooting the men carrying the tubes. At least, if they missed the man, they might damage the tubes.
Once the green men figured out that they were being sniped from above, they slowed down to deal with the threat. Rounds started skipping off the rock face close to the two men, so they pulled back from the edge. It was a good decision on their part. One of the green men aimed his large tube weapon, waited for the capacitor to charge completely, and then pulled the trigger. A bolt of amplified microwave radiation tore into the cliff where they’d been and rock exploded across the canyon.
Both their eyes grew wide as they realized what the weapon could do. That thing would tear through the mechs like paper. Rieci motioned and they separated so that they could decrease their exposure. Rieci ran forward along the ridge and Geonti pulled back. Rieci dropped down close to the position he’d chosen and he crawled carefully so that he could see into the canyon. He saw the heavy weapon, so he took his time and aimed carefully. The heavy weapons gunner went down with a bloody hole in his head.
Then, a burst of incandescent iron ripped four men in half. The green men turned to see where the fire was coming from, and were momentarily confused when they couldn’t see anybody shooting at them. Their world quickly shattered when three independent streams of molten iron hit them. Rieci and Geonti added their limited fire power to the confusion.
The green men were brave, but this proved to be too much for them. They were getting slaughtered and they couldn’t even see the enemy. Dozens died as they tried to run away. Geonti moved from his position back on the ridge to a more forward position, trying to keep the green men in site a little longer to kill more of them.
With the green men on the run, one of the mechs went left, and the other went right, railguns blazing, following the green men out, killing any that weren’t
fast enough to stay far ahead of them. The third moved into the junction, and, since it perceived no threat, it dropped the invisibility pattern display. The dark grey silhouette stopped in front of the land slide, and stood facing it almost in contemplation.
Rieci slapped Geonti on the shoulder and motioned that they should move down into the canyons. There was a switchback that lead down to the junction, and they took it with Rieci in the lead. Twenty minutes later they were down on the canyon floor. They walked toward the lone mech with weapons in the ready position. There were a lot of dead and dying men on the floor of the canyon, and Rieci and Geonti weren’t taking any chances that some of them might not be contemplating more violence.
As they walked toward the mech, it turned toward them. Rieci raised his hand in a greeting, but the greeting turned to ashes in his mouth as the mech raised its railgun and pointed it at the duo. Rieci and Geonti came to a dead stop. Rieci let the rifle dangle from its sling, and slowly raised his hands. Geonti mirrored Rieci’s actions.
A loud, deep voice, one that neither Rieci or Geonti recognized, boomed from the mechs, “You killed for us.”
Rieci and Geonti slowly nodded their heads.
The mech stood there, completely quiet. The railgun didn’t waver in the slightest, still pointed at them. Time seem to stretch for eternity, and Rieci could feel his heart beat in his chest. His throat grew dry.
The mech spoke again, “You are Rieci. And you are Geonti.”
“Yes,” Rieci croaked. He needed a drink of water, but there was no way in hell that he was going to move his arms.
The railgun lowered, “You will help me.” The mech turned away from them, and walked to the landslide blocking the middle canyon.
Rieci kept his hands up, half expecting the mech to change its mind. He turned his head to look at Geonti. Geonti still had his hands up.
“Are we going to help?” Geonti asked.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Rieci opined.